Floral Cielo Top

 

The fabric, both the floral and the blue and white stripe, is from Pam's mom. I didn't have quite enough of the floral to make a shirt so I was happy to pair it with narrow stripe pattern for the sleeve and hem bands.

The pattern is the Cielo Top from Closet Core Patterns. I have made it a couple of times before and am still tweaking the fit. It sews up pretty quickly now. This is a size 14 and I forgot to add length so I made the hem band 2 inches wide.

The shirt was finished March 6th, but I finally got around to taking pics today. The garden has so many things in bloom and it was a bright sunny day. 

Opted for the bias neckband

Strawberries are in season

I know this will not be the last of the Cielo tops for me. This is becoming a TNT patterns for wovens for me. 

A Lark Tee and A Linden Sweatshirt

Usually I buy rtw long-sleeve t-shirts, but there wasn't any in-person shopping this year so I was motivated to make a few of my own. Both the Lark Tee and the Linden Sweatshirt patterns by Grainline Studio are in my collection and I decided to try making one of each.

I had used the Lark Tee by Grainline Studio before, but I knew that the shoulder and bicep fit needed tweaking for me. The Lark Tee is a bit too narrow across the shoulders for me and I have two shirts where the fabric is tight on the upper arm. That may just be the fabric choice, but I wanted to look into the fitting there too. I had already lengthened the sleeves 1 1/2" and adjusted the side seam a bit to curve in at my waist. This time I lengthened the shoulder seam by 3/4" and lowered the bottom of the armscye about 3/4". I chose to make the long-sleeve size 10 with the crew neck. 

This very soft polka-dot fabric came from Joann Fabrics. I used my Babylock 1034D serger for most of the construction and my Bernina 1230 for the neck binding, hem, and sleeve hems.

The fit is improved. I don't know yet if it is a question of fabric choice for the bicep fit, but I didn't make any pattern changes for the biceps and this fabric works great.

For the second shirt I used the Linden Sweatshirt pattern. I traced a size 10 top graded out to a 12 at the hips. The shirt is lengthened 3" and the sleeves are lengthened 2".  There is a 1 1/2" hem band and the sleeve hems are turned under 3/4".  The fabric is a red knit with white stripes.

                                               

Look at how high the snow is stacked on the bird bath behind me. There was so much snow and so much time spent shoveling last month. Now there are crocuses and daffodils blooming. Soon it will be gardening season and I'm ready for it. 

Cielo Top

 I bought the Cielo Top and Dress pattern from Sew on Central this summer. I decided to try the top version first and used some fabric that came from Pam's mom. It's a lightweight cotton and I was worried it might be see-through, but that turned out to be an unnecessary worry.

The shirt was relatively quick to trace, cut out, and sew up. I used a size 14 and added 1 3/4" to the length. This is view A with cuffed short sleeves.

These finished pics were taken the week before school started this year in August. We had a week of meetings and time to set up our classrooms. We did start the year in-person with the 6 foot social distancing and mask wearing guidelines in place. I was the only person in my classroom for this week though so I am not wearing a mask in the pics. 

Shirt was nice and cool in the summer heat

Neckline finished with bias binding

Clearly, I was in a bit of a rush with the pics. There are no side or back shots and the last one is taken from the car when I was leaving to head home. 

Since finishing the shirt in the summer, I used some of the leftovers to make a matching mask and will be ready to wear it for work when the weather warms up again.

A Linden Sweatshirt Before School Started

The weekend before we went back to school I was feeling a bit anxious and my thoughts were racing.    Sewing is a good way to distract myself from work thoughts and to calm my anxiety. I ended up pulling out a pattern I hadn't sewn in a couple of months, but one that comes together pretty quickly. I used the Linden Sweatshirt to make myself a couple shirts that I could wear later in the school year. 

The fabric for the first shirt is a bright floral that came from Ethel. There was enough to make the entire shirt including the neckband and arm bands. There was even enough left at the end to do the hem band, but I decided to just put in a 1/2" hem instead. 

Bright yellow, orange, and green

When laying out the pieces to cut, I was able to center the big yellow flowers on the front.

Pattern pieces

There was a bit of a pucker in the neckband the first time I put it on. I had to take out a couple inches of serging and redo the seam. 

Pucker under green leaf on neckband 

Neckband a bit narrower, but pucker is gone

Finished shirt on dress form

We are now starting the third week of school and the weather has been too warm for a long sleeve polyester shirt. I did take advantage of my blooming sunflowers and a willing camera person to get a few finished shots though.

Bright flowers everywhere

Length is good without added hem band

All the sunflowers are taller than me

This will be a fun addition to my fall wardrobe

Floral Willow Tank

In the garden with the squash plants

This is my third version of the Willow Tank. The first one was made per the directions, the second one got a button up front, and this one changed to a size 14 top with size 12 sides to improve fitting. The fabric is a Waverly remnant from Ethel called "Courtship Rose".

Upholstery or curtain fabric possibly

After pre-washing, drying, and ironing the piece I had, I began to consider possibilities for the limited yardage.

Two and a half bouquets

I folded the fabric in half and moved the two pieces of the Willow Tank around to try out different flower placements. The front lined up very well with the flowers framing the neck and shoulders, but the fabric piece was too short to then cut the back piece from the remaining piece. I ended up having to turn the back piece upside down and to put in a center back seam.

Someone doesn't want this to lay flat

 I decided to put the center back seam in the yellow area to make it less noticeable. That ensured that there was no flower pattern to line up.

Center back seam

 The flowers now seem to wrap around from the sides, and I don't think it's particularly noticeable that the fabric is upside down from the front.

Center back seam is top-stitched

 The sides are finished with french seams.

French seam over the bust dart

For the armholes and neckline I had two options for bias facing. I ended up choosing the yellow as it matched the background of the flowers perfectly.

Pink or yellow bias facing

 All sewing, including the bias facing was done with my Bernina 1230.

Trimming the sleeve facing

Here is the shirt finished except for the hem.

Front

Back

After the hemming was finished, the shirt stayed on my dress form for a few days before I actually wore it. There wasn't a need to wear anything other than workout and work in the yard clothes. Eventually, I had to run an errand and I put this on for the outing. There was driving involved and I see that sitting down put some wrinkles into my shirt. That didn't stop an impromptu photo shoot though. Pre-pandemic, this business district was often bustling with pedestrians but all is quiet now. I parked my car and hopped out to set up the camera in the window of an empty storefront.

Dressed up for errands

Great flower borders on bottom and top of front

Side view

Flowers frame neckline beautifully

No people, bikes, or cars

A few more pictures were taken in the garden when I returned home. It was a very hot day and I was trying to move quickly before I started sweating.

Checking out the zinnias

Happy zinnias right outside the back door

Back length is good for sitting

Where does my shirt end and the garden begin?

Back view

Squinting a bit in the sun

I think I have the fit for this tank looking good now and will consider it a TNT. There will be more versions of the Willow Tank, I'm sure.